Who goes there Haruhi Suzumiya?
by xXThe mirror tells me LIESXx
Summary: Haruhi wins some obscure contest online to see the secret unveiling of something that might change the world forever. But will she find wonders, or terrors beyond her wildest imagination?
1. Chapter 1

Kyon Chronicles, Volume One:

Who goes there, Haruhi Suzumiya?

Horror/Suspense

Kyon/Haruhi

crossover

The Thing/Haruhi Suzumiya series

_M_

_**(A/N: Hello again, here's another half complete story, please don't expect me to finish this any time soon, I've lost interest in it, but it's been on my computer for a very long time, so I figured I'd share what I've got so far. This is a crossover with The Thing, a classic horror movie from the 80's, and one of my favorites. I hope you enjoy)**_

**Chapter One:**

_**Surprise and Surprise Again**_

Hey there, just call me Kyon, everyone else does. I'm a boy of sixteen years of age with short messy brown hair, and I'm among the tallest in my class.

When I was younger I had wished so hard for a world where time travelers, aliens, and espers exist, but as I entered middle school and got caught up with the daily life a student, my dreams kind of just, died out. I didn't care about that childish stuff anymore. That was until I met Haruhi Suzumiya, a beautiful, albeit, eccentric young girl who turned my life upside down.

She never lost that dream I once had, her eyes still twinkle with the belief in the impossible.

I later found out that she had the ability to warp reality to her unconscious will,

which forces me to fill in the role of damage control, if she ever found out about the things she was doing, things would get really bad, really fast.

I would say she made my life a living hell, but after the events that were about to unfold a year later, I learned to distinguish.

So let's just say she made my life pretty hectic, but I will say that if I had never met her, my life wouldn't nearly be as interesting as it was.

It was an unusual day, and by unusual, I mean unusual for the brigade. There's just no way that you're definition of unusual and mine would ever synch up, since I experience the bizarre and unlikely on a weekly basis. But to get back to my point, Fall had just set in and the leaves outside hadn't changed colors yet, but it was already starting to get chilly.

It was the beginning of a school day in Nishinomiya, the fall's dim light bathed the classroom in a cold embrace and I had just sat down in my seat a few minutes before class was to begin. All of that wasn't where the oddity began, it was a certain brown haired, reality warper with a yellow headband in her hair. I noticed Haruhi was more antsy than ever in class today. She was happily fidgeting in her seat and shaking with so much excitement that I feared she'd burst like a volcano.

What horrors do you have in store for us today, Haruhi? At that time my definition of horror didn't even come close to what I would know in the next few days.

The teacher had yet to arrive and start class, so my classmates did what they always did, talked. so many people were talking at once, it sounded more like a buzzing hive than a classroom. It was difficult to pick out a single conversation, but I didn't care about that. The only thing that interested me was Haruhi's odd behavior, er, odd for Haruhi anyway.

"So what's up?" I asked, turning to our self appointed brigade chief.

Her eyes flashed in recognition as I pulled her out of her thoughts.

"I'll explain later! But lets just say that today is a great turning point for the brigade! After this, the whole world will recognize us, we'll be famous! Even you, Kyon!"

_'Yeah, when hell freezes over.'_ I thought.

Little did I know that hell wasn't about to freeze over so much as it already _was_ frozen over.

Haruhi had cleaning duty, so I decided to just go ahead and go to the clubroom. I was greeted by Koizumi as I walked in the door.

Koizumi is the appointed "mysterious transfer student" of our club, the S.O.S. Brigade.

But in reality he's an esper, and a damned annoying one at that.

Itsuki Koizumi is a boy almost as tall as me, with long messy brown hair and an irritating smile always plastered on his face.

"Good day, Kyon. Fancy a game of poker?"

I sat down and placed my bag next to my chair. Looking around the room I noticed the small, purple haired Nagato reading a dusty old book titled "the mountains of madness" and the ever so lovely red haired Miss Asahina making her wonderful tea.

Miss Asahina, ah, truly she is an angel.

She was practically kidnapped by Haruhi in the early days of the brigade.

Why you ask? Because she has looks that could melt an icy heart and a pair of breasts almost as big as my head!

Don't look at me! I didn't kidnap her! It was Haruhi!

Haruhi wanted a cute mascot for the brigade and got one.

Mikuru Asahina's daily schedule includes making tea and being forced into revealing outfits by Haruhi.

Now you're probably wondering what's so special about her other than looks that can kill.

She's a time traveler.

Yep, I didn't believe it either at first, in fact I didn't believe any of this until I saw things for myself.

Oh! I forgot to tell you more about Nagato, sorry, sometimes I forget she's there.

Yuki Nagato is a quiet girl, never seen without a book in hand.

She's the "indispensable silent character" of the group.

She was originally the last member of the literature club, but when Haruhi burst in and took over the room for her own ends, Nagato decided to join the brigade.

She's also an alien.

Or, rather a "humanoid interface" sent from some sentient force out in the galaxy.

And she's saved my ass more times than I care to count.

And me? I'm just Kyon, a bland, boring, normal human.

So what am I doing here? That's a question I still ask myself.

Apparently I'm "the one chosen by Suzumiya" whatever the hell that means.

So there you have it, a club with a time traveler, an esper, and an alien.

They have to keep their identities a secret though, and keep Haruhi from recreating the world.

Snapping back from my lengthy introduction monologue, I turned to Koizumi and said, "Sure why not?"

As Koizumi dealt, I felt that I should tell him about what was going on,

"Hey just a heads up, Haruhi's planning something crazy again"

Koizumi smiled like he always does, which oddly enough makes a good poker face.

"I guess you'll just have to talk her out of it"

For some reason I doubt she'll listen to anyone at all about this, whatever 'this' is.

I was interrupted from my thoughts as Miss Asahina sat a cup of tea next to me,

"Arigatou, Miss Asahina"

She smiled and looked like she was about to say something until I heard the door open, her face went pale and she started shaking and stuttering.

"K-k-kyon! L-look out!"

I turned to face the greatest horror I had ever known, at that time anyway, standing in the doorway with a cheerful smile and a knife was blue haired death, or rather, Ryoko Asakura.

Ryoko Asakura is an alien like Nagato, but last year she tried to kill me to get a reaction out of Haruhi.

I totally didn't fall over, latch onto miss Asahina and scream like a girl. Just saying.

As Asakura stalked closer to us, I noticed it wasn't a knife in her hand at all, but a ballpoint pen.

Are you planning a slow painful death for me this time?

Koizumi eyed us curiously and interrupted,

"I'm terribly sorry, but did I miss something?"

Don't just sit there, you idiot! Use your esper powers or something!

Our former class rep was now a foot away and extending her hand towards me.

"Here, humans like fancy pens, right?"

...What?

"I'm really sorry about what happened between us, would you take this as a peace offering?"

again, ...what?

I didn't know what to say, surely this is a trick?

"Y-you!" was all I could manage.

Her cheery smile faded.

"I see... you're still upset at me aren't you?"

that's an understatement! Nagato, why aren't you doing anything?

As if to answer my prayers, Nagato stood beside me and helped Miss Asahina and I off our feet.

"She is harmless"

I stared at her, lost for words as Miss Asahina cowered behind me.

"Seriously, what did I miss?" Koizumi asked again.

Nagato then let loose a flood of techno babble so complex that I'm not even going to bother repeating it. Suffice to say, I don't think anyone in the room except Asakura understood.

Speaking of the adorable psychopath, she put her finger on her lip with an expression of deep thought,

"Maybe I can explain!" she said cheerfully

Yeah, that would be great.

Is it just me, or are all the women in my life unbelievably gorgeous... and possibly insane?

"You see, after our little mishap when I tried to kill you, I realized-"

"What? you tried to kill Kyon?" Koizumi interrupted.

"Twice" She responded, leaving Koizumi dumbfounded as she continued.

"Anyway, I realized that the explosion of data I wanted would probably happen anyway if I just waited, so I begged the entity to let me come back. It was my lucky day, because after what you did last December, it decided that it could gather more data by studying human relations"

So it's pissed and brought you back to scare the shit out of me. That's just great.

"No! Not at all like that! I'm just here to collect data on human interactions, so what do you say, friends?"

she extended her hand again, offering me the pen.

"I assure you I can't hurt you anymore... how can I put this in words you'd understand... Oh! I'm on probation now!"

Probation?

"Yeah! My ability to manipulate data has been extremely limited, and my personality program has been altered! So go on, take it! I insist!"

there will probably be serious repercussions for this, but for the first time, I felt like Asakura was telling the truth. I cautiously grasped for the pen and examined it. It was a nice pen, made from some kind of shiny metal, it looked like something a wealthy business man might own.

I pocketed it and thanked her.

"Thanks... but you understand my skepticism, right?"

"I guess so..." she replied somberly.

Just then a frightened look came over Asakura's face as a pair of very feminine hands squeezed her chest from behind,

"Hmm... firm, perky, small..."

Asakura could only stutter in shock as a certain someone was violating her.

"You have tits that are perfectly proportional to your body!"

oh god, Asakura is getting the Asahina treatment! I can't help but let a small smile slip.

Haruhi has a thing about boobs. I'm not sure why, but my theory is that she's a closet bisexual.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

"This isn't funny Kyon!" Asakura screamed as she grabbed Haruhi's wrist and did a judo throw, tossing Haruhi on her back.

"Ryoko? I thought you moved to Canada, eh?"

Asakura wrapped her arms around her chest protectively and blushed.

"Yes, but I'm back now..."

Haruhi got up and dusted herself off, uncaring that she was just thrown across the room.

"So what's Canada like? Huh? Huh? Huh? Huh?"

I know Asakura deserves more than to be badgered by our resident lunatic, but part of me felt sorry for her. She looked scared and unsure what to do as she stood there, clutching her chest. She reminded me of Nagato in that other world. For her this must be like a whole other world, with a new mission and probably next to no idea what to do. She was more like me in that sense.

"It was... uh... cold"

She went on describing America's neighbor to the north in the best way she could. Knowing that she hadn't actually been there, I had to admire her courage as she made things up on the spot to please Haruhi. It's difficult to appease her, believe me. Slowly she began to smile, she was starting to get the hang of it. That's right, you can do it! ...wait am I actually cheering for a former psychopathic alien?

"Then it's settled! Ryoko, I hereby annex you into the brigade!"

What? You can't just force someone to join! I guess you haven't changed much at all...

To my surprise however, Asakura smiled brighter and agreed. Maybe this won't be so bad?

"Alright! This is so perfect for what I have planned!"

Perhaps I spoke too soon.

"Yesterday in the mail I got a special first class ticket to Antarctica! Can you believe it?"

"Wait what? Antarctica?" I cried, I was trying desperately to make sense of the situation.

"Yeah, I know right? I didn't think I'd win either! And a ticket that would let me bring as many people as I wanted too! Can you believe it?"

No I can't. But then again I can, weird things seem to follow you like Milton follows his stapler in that foreign movie I saw once.

"What do you mean, you 'won'? I don't recall you ever entering any contests?" Koizumi asked, understandably confused.

"I didn't tell anyone, but about a month ago when I was surfing the web I filled out a form for a contest to be the first at the unveiling of something scientists found in the ice! We're going to be famous!"

I just... can't... believe it... there's no way I'm going to Antarctica! We'll freeze to death!

"Well I for one, think this is wonderful! How soon can we leave?" Koizumi asked,

Don't encourage her! Do you want us to get killed!


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

_**Preparations**_

I spent the rest of the day trying everything I could think of to talk Haruhi out of it, but she wouldn't have any of it. I resigned to my fate and went home to pack. You're probably wondering why my parents just let me go on these crazy trips with Haruhi, you're not alone. They just smile and say 'have fun'. They probably think it will look good for me when I apply to college that I took part in extra curricular activities. But when I told them I was going to Antarctica they responded like I was going to the park. They just didn't care at all! Is this you're doing, Haruhi? I bet I could say that we're going to the moon and they wouldn't bat an eye!

I was all packed up and tired, so I lay on my bed and took a minute to think about things.

Haruhi said not to worry about protection from the elements, since snow gear would be provided when we got on the plane tomorrow, so I guess that's a plus.

On top of that, Haruhi said that everyone is responsible to bring a friend and if we don't, there will be penalties. Well I've had enough of those to last me the rest of my life, so I decided I'd invite Taniguchi, and Kunikida for good measure. Try to penalize me now!

I had called Kunikida and told him all about our trip to Antarctica, and oddly enough he agreed instantly, yeah I don't get it either. He told me he had nothing better to do and that going to the south pole would be great learning experience for him.

Not that I'm complaining, but why would anyone care about learning in subzero environments?

I took a long shower and decided to call Taniguchi, you'd think this would be an even harder catch, but apparently Haruhi's powers know no limits.

I called him on my cell as soon as I sat down on my bed and waited for him to pick up.

_Ring_

I absently flipped through a book Nagato gave me once, not really taking in the text.

_Ring_

Hyperion is a classic and all, but how could she expect me to read this? It's pretty confusing.

_Ring_

Oh, that's right, she gave it to me so I could find her bookmark and meet up with her. That was when she told me she was an alien, huh, weird how little things can really jog you're memory.

"_Yo, Kyon? What's up?"_

Well, here goes.

"Hey man, I know you've probably got better things to do, but do you want to come to Antarctica with the brigade?"

As expected, he laughed hysterically for several minutes.

When he finally settled down, he said,

"...You're serious, aren't you?"

"Unfortunately I am"

He stayed quiet for a few moments, as if debating internally.

"...will there be girls? Other than Suzumiya of course."

I had to think about that for a minute, I knew three girls would be coming for sure, but it's hard telling who everyone else might invite.

"Well, Miss Asahina and Nagato are definitely coming... oh! And Asakura-"

I was cut off at Asakura. Why doesn't that surprise me?

"Miss Asakura? as in _Ryoko_ Asakura?"

"Yep"

"I thought she moved to Canada or something! she's back, and in you're club! Oh, man I envy you!"

Yeah... I'm beside myself with joy...

"You bet you're ass I'm coming! I was gonna see a movie tomorrow, but I can do that anytime!"

He continued babbling about Asakura for... I don't know, maybe five minutes until I cut him off to tell him the details of the trip and hung up.

Finally! I can only listen to that guy for so long.

After hanging up, I fell backwards on my bed and stared at the ceiling wondering, what next? What does Antarctica hold for us? And just what are they unveiling over there?

I entertained these thoughts for an hour and before I knew it, I was out like a light. It was the closest thing to a peaceful sleep I enjoyed for a long time.

I was on a train, leaving for who knows where, when I noticed everything seemed off.

I was alone, with nothing to see but a heavily saturated orange light from outside the windows, I guess the sun was rising.

But I wasn't alone, I turned to see something odd that had caught my eye, a red eyed, blue haired girl in some other school's uniform. She looked about two or three years younger than me.

The hell?

"Why do you pilot Eva?" she asked in a monotone that reminded me of Nagato.

Suddenly, things slowly started to become squiggly and weird.

Why does this feel so familiar?

"Well I guess because I want people to praise me... wait a second! I don't even watch Evangelion anymore!"

Rei Ayanami tilted her head to the side slightly,

"I... see, then this is the wrong dream. Farewell." she said quietly as she faded away.

"Could have stayed and talked for a while..." I said, without emotion as the world around me stopped it's annoying squiggle-vision.

I found myself sitting in a meadow, surrounded by mountains and forests, and a bright blue sky.

"Well... that was weird"

"Indeed it was! How strange it is to dream about things you haven't thought about for so long! I think there was a theory about that, if I could just remember it..."

"Koizumi, what the hell are you doing in _my_ dream? I swear if you're using some kind of esper powers, I'm going to deck you when I wake up!"

I looked up to see not Koizumi, but a boy with red eyes and ashen blonde hair.

"Oh, I'm afraid I'm not Koizumi, as he's behind you"

I turned around to see Koizumi smiling at me.

Annoying, oh so annoying...

"You and I are the same, Mr Nagisa!" Koizumi said cheerfully as he shook hands with Koaru 'Tabris' Nagisa.

For the love of god...

"You know what, I am _not_ having some kind of acid dream based on an anime I haven't seen in years! Get out!"

Koaru bowed his head in shame,

"Okay, everyone let's go..." he said as the cast of evangelion walked out of the woods and through a conveniently placed exit door in the distance.

O_O

"Finally, I can dream in peace" I said as I relaxed and watched clouds pass by the imaginary sky.

"Dreams can be quite nice sometimes, can't they?"

I turned to face him again, glaring.

"Koizumi, I really will deck you, I'm not going to have some kind of yaoi dream either!"

"I take offense to that, what on earth made you think I was gay?"

Gee I wonder.

"You wouldn't like it if you were dreaming about me either!"

At least I hope he wouldn't... ugh... I never can tell with that guy.

"I wouldn't instantly assume the dream had homosexual undertones." he replied flatly

"Well what else could this be?" I asked irately.

"Perhaps you're fighting homosexual panic?"

"...Koizumi, I'm going to count to five and if you're still there..."

I curled my hands into fists, ready to beat the crap out of him.

Koizumi raised his hands in the air, slowly backing away.

"Okay, okay! ...But I'm telling the guys from Evangelion!"

"Well good, that means you're leaving!"


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

_**I'm more MLG than you!**_

I continued having weird dreams interrupted by more weird dreams until I was woken by an angry call from our 'glorious' brigade leader.

I jumped in the shower, got ready and left to the closest airport in Nishinomiya, where I was greeted by an apoplectic Haruhi at the gate.

"About time! Even you're guests showed up before you! Come on you lazy ass, get in! We've got twenty minutes until the plane leaves!"

I sighed and followed her inside, it was packed! Everywhere I turned, people were squeezing through one another trying to get to their destination on time. I bet none of these people are going to Antarctica. Lucky bastards...

"Ah good morning, Kyon." Koizumi greeted as he sat on a bench with Miss Mori and Mister Arakawa.

You jackass! You brought two guests because you thought I'd only bring one. Trying to make me look bad as always. damn overachiever!

I traded greetings with everyone in the group as we waited to board our plane.

Looks like Miss Asahina brought Tsuruya.

Great... this is going to be a long trip. It's not that I don't enjoy Tsuruya's company, it's just that once she starts laughing, she goes on and on like a motor, driving needles into my brain. And it doesn't take much to get her started. Not only that but she's easily excited and gets into bouts of high speed chattering.

"Like oh my god! Hiyas Kyon-kun! Can you believe we're about to go to Antarctica?"

Honestly, I don't even know what to believe.

"At first I was like, Antarctica! wouldn't that be totally cold, nyoro~n? And then I was like, a secret unveiling! no way! I got to see this!"

And so the cute motormouth revved up and broke the sound barrier, she was talking so fast I had trouble following along.

"And I told my dad, I'm going to Antarctica for a week! And he said 'serendipitous'!"

Why does she even want to talk to me anyway?

"And then I got all packed up and the maid was like, are you going somewhere? And I said Antarctica! And she was like 'Oh my gosh! That's so cool!"

Her mouth is a universe unto itself...

"Alright Tsuruya, settle down!" Haruhi scolded as she turned her attention to Nagato and Asakura.

Even Haruhi has her limits. Hey I learned something today! Fancy that...

"Yuki-chan, you didn't bring anyone! That's a penalty, I can let it slide for Ryoko since she's new, but you're a veteran!"

What is this, the army now? Nagato's more of a veteran than you know, Haruhi. And how can you penalize her? You know that her only friends are in the brigade anyway!

I was about to open my mouth to unleash a tirade of reprimands on Haruhi when Asakura came to Nagato's defense.

"Miss Suzumiya, Miss Nagato doesn't have many friends, won't you reconsider?"

At that moment, the rarest of rare and unexplainable phenomena occurred, I saw Haruhi express empathy.

"Is that true, Yuki?" Haruhi asked, with a look that might be akin to shame.

Nagato only responded with a simple nod.

"Well... alright then, I guess I can't fault you for that."

she turned around and did a quick head count

"Okay so is this everyone?"

why did you do a head count if you don't know how many people are supposed to be here!

As we lined up to get on the plane I stopped in front of Koizumi.

"Something wrong, Kyon?" the ever smiling esper asked.

What _was_ wrong? I took a few seconds to think about it and then it hit me.

"It's just that... when I get on this plane, I'll be further from home than I've ever been"

"That's very understandable, be brave, Kyon"

apparently it wasn't understandable to Haruhi, who was in front of me, and very agitated.

"So what? Your a brigade member! We set forth to find the wonders of the world! We do the impossible and kick reason to the curb!"

yeah, that pretty much sums up everything _you_ do.

She grabbed me by the wrist and dragged me on the plane.

"And sometimes you have to go beyond your comfort zone! So move you're ass, Samwise!"

Samwise?

"What a clever reference Miss Suzumiya!"

one of these days, Koizumi and I need to have a little talk about not encouraging her...

I sat in the back with Koizumi, behind Asakura and Nagato, while everyone else was scattered all around the plane.

Haruhi sat alone in the very front, ahead of Tsuruya and Miss Asahina, and Taniguchi and Kunikida were in the middle across from Mister Arakawa and Miss Mori. besides the brigade, and our guests, it seemed like we were the only ones on-board. I had yet to see a flight attendant.

"Are you certain you don't want the window seat, Kyon?"

As much as he annoys me, Koizumi's one redeeming quality is that he's very polite. I'm thankful for that much.

"No, nothing I want to see out there"

Koizumi leaned back in his seat and smiled,

"This is you're first flight isn't it?"

yep, and I'm not too excited about it either.

"It's nothing to be ashamed of, I was scared the first time I flew, you'll get used to it once we start going."

Now that he mentioned it, I was a little scared. I hadn't even thought about the fact that we'd be miles up in the sky. I gripped my seat nervously as my stomach did a somersault. Damn you, Koizumi! I was about to open my mouth and and give him an earful when the stewardess's appeared out of nowhere and told us to buckle our seat-belts and gave us the rundown on safety. They must have been in the back the whole time.

Why would we need oxygen masks! is there a chance we'll die! I was seriously freaking out.

"Don't worry Kyon, airplanes are very safe these days, everything will be fine" Koizumi said, trying to reassure me.

I wasn't feeling very reassured, especially when you tempt fate like that by saying everything will be fine!

Asakura turned her head to me and smiled that sunny smile that still makes me want to shit my pants.

"It's okay, Kyon, if anything goes wrong Miss Nagato and I will fix it!"

Miss Asakura, I wish you could inject some of that cheerfulness into me...

...No! Your not going to inject anything into me! You stay far away! Was I just fawning over the girl who tried to kill me like she was Miss Asahina? I think the brigade's finally gotten to my head, I'm starting to lose it. Although I did feel reassured, and I'm certain that if anyone could keep us safe, it's Nagato.

There was a ding on the intercom,

"This is you're captain speaking uh... first I'd like to say welcome aboard to a first class trip all the way to Antarctica uh...We'll be making a short stop in Australia for refueling uh... but after that it's nonstop to the south pole. We'll be heading into some headwinds -gigidy- and you may experience some turbulence uh... don't be alarmed. We will be taking flight momentarily, so be sure you're seat-belts are fastened and please enjoy the flight!"

That was the weirdest speech I've ever heard, and I have to listen to Haruhi's rants.

After waiting for about five minutes, the plane started rolling down the runway, this is it, japan, I knew thee well...

I started shaking nervously. I could almost feel gravity trying to pull me down through the floor, seat and all.

"Kyon? You seem tense, let's talk, keep your mind off things" Koizumi said.

Yeah... that sounds like a good idea. For once I actually wanted to talk to him.

"So... what do you think we'll find in Antarctica?" I asked, trying my best not to think about gravity's sudden jealousy over me.

"That's something I've been wondering myself, I have a few theories if you'd like to hear them."

Alright, shoot.

"Very well, hmm... the first thing that comes to mind is some kind of prehistoric animal"

"You mean like a dinosaur? Don't you think it would be a little cold down there for reptiles?"

Koizumi stretched his arms and yawned,

"true, but as a child I was fascinated by dinosaurs and would read anything I could find about them"

I guess we have something in common, I used to like them a lot too, I had tons of little plastic dinosaur toys when I was a little boy.

"And once when I was reading a science journal in middle school I found that scientists believed they may have had more likeness to birds than reptiles, so I guess if that's true it wouldn't necessarily be out of the question to find one in the south pole."

"But then why would it be considered some amazing find?" I asked, challenging him.

"Well it's just a theory as far as I know, so perhaps it would be considered an amazing find because it proves someone's theory?"

I guess that makes sense.

"Another theory I have is that it could be some forgotten relic of an ancient civilization, perhaps a boat or a spear, something like that"

Soon I had completely forgotten all about the ground being miles below us and was feeling my usual logical self.

"But how would they survive? It's a frozen wasteland!"

"Well, a tribe of native Americans in Alaska once lived in igloos, that's huts made of ice, and survived on a steady diet of marine life among other land mammals, so why not?"

He had a point, but one question popped into my head.

"Okay so I admit that's possible, but how would an ancient civilization get there in the first place?"

He took a piece of gum out and started chewing it, offering a piece to me.

"Here, you should chew this, once we land it would be a good idea to swallow it"

Why would I want to do that? I thought we weren't supposed to eat gum?

"That's very true, but it's an excellent remedy for jet lag, if you swallow it, you're ears will pop and relieve pressure, so you won't feel sick once we land"

jet lag... huh I didn't think of that. Wait, jet lag... we're on a plane, way up in the sky... damn you again Koizumi!

"Oh, I apologize for that, I wasn't thinking" he said with an irritating smile as he handed me some gum. You just love torturing me don't you?

"...Thanks" I manage to squeak out

"Sorry again about that, I'll continue. Hmm... well to answer you're question, there have been a number of seafaring civilizations of the ancient world and empires were known to span the size of several countries. The one civilization that sticks out most to me are the vikings, since there's evidence that they were first to discover America. Although they lived closer to the north pole than the south, so I doubt the possible relics belong to them."

Wow, is there anything you don't know, Koizumi?

"On an unrelated note, their have been archeological findings as far as Iraq with coins and other things belonging to the vikings. Isn't that remarkable?"

Yeah I guess it kind of is. If the vikings could go as far as they did, then who else could?

We continued talking about his various theories until a stewardess brought us menus for dinner.

"So you're saying everything on here is free?" I asked her.

My dad used to say there's nothing scarier than something that's free. Oh dad, sometimes that saying doesn't apply at all, at least when Haruhi's involved.

"Yes, everything on the flight is complimentary, and congratulations on winning the contest, I never even heard of it though."

Yeah me either.

She left us to decide our meals as Asakura turned around,

"Hey guys, I couldn't help but overhear your conversation earlier, what do you think of an alien frozen in the ice?"

An alien? Well I wouldn't put it aside completely, I mean I'm staring at one right in the eye as she speaks.

Koizumi shot her down immediately.

"Hmm, I'll admit it's possible, but Miss Suzumiya is surrounded by aliens already, so I find it unlikely"

I don't.

"Well, that doesn't necessarily mean it has anything to do with Miss Suzumiya"

On that note however, I beg to differ, as we're on a flight to Antarctica because Haruhi won tickets from some obscure contest.

"Well that's true, this part is definitely because of Miss Suzumiya, but that's the only thing I've been able to figure out so far" Koizumi replied.

The only thing she might be responsible for? I gripped the seat nervously again and not because of the flight. Maybe, just maybe we could be in some serious danger.

Koizumi's face shown an expression of complete seriousness.

"I'm aware of that as well, although Miss Suzumiya conjured up this trip in order to get famous, I wouldn't rule out the possibility of outside forces, We all need to keep a close eye on Miss Suzumiya just in case. But my paranoia could be completely unfounded, however I feel it's best to stay on our guard."

"Are you guys saying that there could be aliens out there that want to harm Haruhi?" I asked.

"I'm not sure they'd want to bring any harm to her if there are any, but... something doesn't feel right about this" Koizumi stated.

Nagato was saying something. It sounded important but I couldn't hear her at all.

"Oh, Miss Nagato! I don't think they can hear you, turn around." said Asakura.

Nagato turned towards us and started again in her trademark monotone.

"The entity had noticed approximately twenty thousand years ago, a space-faring race crashed into this planet. However, the likelihood of them still being around is low, but should not be ruled out completely"

So it's possible they landed in Antarctica? I think someone would notice them if they were still wondering around.

"There is not sufficient evidence to prove or disprove that they are still here or if they had survived, but if they crashed into the southern pole of this planet, It is likely that they were frozen and still buried in the ice."

Then... if they did land in Antarctica, they must be what was found! So Haruhi just might see aliens after all, and know it of course.

After that, Asakura and Nagato turned around to leave Koizumi and myself to debate the possibilities until the stewardess took our menus and dinner arrived.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four:**

_**Crikey!**_

I placed the gum back in my mouth that I left on my cup during dinner and noticed we were slowing down.

Oh my god! Are we crashing?

"Koizumi, if one of these engines go out and Nagato can't do anything about it, how far do you think the other will take us?" I asked nervously.

"All the way to the scene of the crash, I would imagine"

-_- …You bastard.

"I bet we'd beat the paramedics there by a- ow!"

I punched him in the arm for making that reference.

"I'm sorry, that joke was in bad taste" he said, nursing his arm.

"we are landing to refuel" Nagato said softly

Ding!

"Uh... please put your seat-belts back on uh... we're landing."

I put my seat-belt back on and braced for impact, but my fears were unfounded as the landing was actually pretty smooth. After the plane came to a stop, the pilot gave us the go ahead to get out of our seats and walk around the station.

I walked with Koizumi and had a pretty nasty headache, until I remembered to swallow my gum. My ears popped and I did start to feel better. That was until another headache showed up

"Kyon!"

I turned around to see an excited Haruhi pointing to her phone.

"we went forward by half an hour!"

and your point is?

"That kind of makes us time travelers! Isn't that neat?"

I noticed Miss Asahina perk up nervously during the mention of time travel,

Don't worry, she won't catch on to you, Miss Asahina.

"Meh"

"You're no fun, Kyon!"

She didn't look too happy at my response and stormed off.

Good riddance.

While I'm in Australia, I might as well get some souvenirs, I think my sister would really like that shark tooth necklace.

I sat on a bench next to Koizumi and took my purchases out of the bag to get a better look at them.

"I didn't know you smoked" He said, noticing the Zippo lighter I bought.

"Nah, I don't do that, I just figured that it might come in handy."

Koizumi rifled through his bag as well,

"I suppose you're right, you never know when you'll need a lighter"

I looked over to his bag and asked,

"So what did you get?"

Koizumi pulled something out of his bag.

"Oh not much, just a small combat knife, see the handle is made from an animal bone of some sort, neat huh?"

Get that thing away from me!

"Oh... I'm sorry, is this what Asakura used?"

Something like that.

"Just one thing, how are you going to get back on the plane with that thing?"

"Normally I'd worry, but I asked one of the plane staff, and they said they would hold it for me until I got off the plane, so no harm no foul"

Yeah I guess so. But what would he want a knife for anyway? Is he planning to go psycho and kill us all, like this was an episode of Higurashi?

"So why'd you get it anyway?" I asked.

"Well, I'm glad you asked. I didn't want you to think I was psychotic or anything. I got this in case I have to protect Miss Suzumiya, I doubt it would come to that, but it's a good idea to be prepared, don't you agree?"

I do think it's a good idea to be cautious. I know I bitch a lot, but I don't want anything to happen to Haruhi, or anyone for that matter.

I walked around with Koizumi until Haruhi popped out of nowhere and dragged us back on the plane. I was about to sit down when I noticed Miss Asahina crying next to Tsuruya. I ran to the front as fast as I could.

"It's okay, Mikuru, it's all overs now!" Tsuruya reassured her.

"Miss Asahina, what's wrong!" I asked, concerned for her safety.

Miss Asahina wiped a few tears out of her eyes and forced a smile, ah that smile makes my day, but this is serious!

"Oh, don't pay attention to her Kyon, she's just a big baby!" Haruhi carelessly said from in front of her.

What did you do to her?

It was then that Tsuruya spoke,

"Oh Kyon-kun! Haru-nyan had us get our ears pierced, and wells... I guess Mikuru's really sensitive"

I took a closer look at Miss Asahina and Tsuruya. Just like she said, both girls had their ears pierced. Miss Asahina had some cute hello kitty ear rings, and Tsuruya's were some kind of green gemstones.

"Haruhi." I turned to our brigade chief

"What?" she asked, aggravated.

"You can't just force people to do things like this! You know how easily Miss Asahina can be pushed around!"

"Kyon-kun..." not now Miss Asahina!

Haruhi stood up and glared at me with the hellish fires of feminine fury in her eyes.

She poked her finger right in my chest, pushing me back, damn that hurt.

"Who the hell do you think you are to yell at me? I'm your brigade chief! And I'll have you know she wanted her ears pierced! I even payed for it!" She looked like she was about to smack me when Tsuruya grabbed her by the wrist and did that thing she did to me in that other world, forcing her to yelp in pain.

I need to learn how to do that.

"Now, nows Haru-nyan! He didn't know that, just settle down, okies?"

Haruhi tried to fight Tsuruya off as I got up and dusted myself off.

"Will you let me go? I'm fine now!"

Tsuruya let her go but blocked her path back to her seat, crossing her arms,

"What now?"

"He's right about one thing though, you do push Mikuru around a lot, and I don't appreciates that!"

Wow, I thought I'd always be the one to defend Miss Asahina.

"I've been better about that!"

Tsuruya looked to Miss Asahina,

"Is that trues, Mikuru?"

"Y-yes, she's been much nicer to me lately!"

Tsuruya smiled and turned back to Haruhi,

"Okies then!" and turned to go back to her seat, but then stopped and took a crane stance,

"But if you abuse her again, You'll have to answer to me!" she then started making Karate noises .

I'm just going to leave now...

I excused myself to the back, where Koizumi grilled me for answers about what just happened.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

_**Great Big White World**_

The rest of the flight was uneventful, except for Asakura and Koizumi pressing me to apologize. Twenty minutes before we landed, we got into the winter gear that was provided for us. Thermal shirts, thick pants, heavy jackets, boots and goggles were passed around, surprisingly everyone found something that fit. I really wish all this stuff wasn't necessary, it's a pain to put on. And everyone has the same rusty orange color. Bleh! After landing, I swallowed another piece of gum as we all filed out of the plane and waited for the chopper Haruhi said would arrive.

Dear god it was cold! If Jack Frost were to nip at my nose any harder, it would fall off!

Everywhere I looked was nothing but snow, it was a blank, white void.

There was nothing of interest to be seen, except for the small station and a few other buildings in the distance.

The cold oblivion around me got me so bored that I started to reflect on my journey so far, but all I could think of was that little outburst I had with Haruhi. I felt guilty for yelling at her over the whole ear piercing thing, Miss Asahina had apparently _wanted_ her ears pierced and Haruhi even payed for it! That was incredibly generous of her, I should feel guilty, I bet I just cut her off from developing a really pleasant personality...

I braved the cold and went to go talk to Haruhi. placing a hand on her shoulder I said, "Hey Haruhi-"

"I'm Tsuruya, silly Kyon!"

oh my mistake. Everyone looks the same when their bundled up in all this stuff.

I found her this time and began to apologize,

"Hey Haruhi, I'm sorry about earlier" that's all I said, what more do you want? A poem? It was good enough for her, so back off!

"Huh? Oh, that's fine, it was a misunderstanding. Dammit it's cold out here!"

You're telling me. Wait, did you just accept my apology?

"Yeah, don't worry about it, you were right okay? Can you get off my case now?"

I backed away a foot.

"Yeah, sure, so when's the chopper coming?"

Haruhi pointed at the white horizon at a black dot coming closer to us.

"That answer you're question?"

Yep.

I left to go talk to Koizumi and the other espers, something just didn't seem right about all this.

"Hey do you guys notice anything weird? Something seems off."

"I don't sense anything, I'm afraid"

"Oh, well I guess that's a good thing huh?"

I couldn't see his face, but I could tell he wasn't smiling.

"No... you misunderstand, I don't sense anything at all, not even Miss Suzumiya's emotions"

"Mister Arakawa, Miss Mori, is that true for you too?"

Mr. Arakawa didn't say anything but nodded his head, that's the thing about these two, their kind of like Nagato and don't really say much unless they have to.

"I'm afraid so" Miss Mori said.

"Kyon?" Asakura and Nagato were right behind me.

Don't sneak up on me like that!

"I'm sorry I scared you, but my data manipulation abilities aren't working either, I'm afraid I'm powerless..."

What could she possibly mean? Why aren't anyone's powers working?  
>"the powers of everyone present are being suppressed due to the southern pole's strong magnetic fields, however, powers may be restored temporarily at random intervals depending on the intensity of the magnetism"<p>

Of course something like this would happen. I hope we don't run into any danger... I don't think I can be reliant on Nagato for it. Surely her powers wouldn't be effected like Asakura's though?

"What about you, Nagato?" I asked nervously.

"My abilities are severely limited"

Damn! I bet Miss Asahina can't contact her superiors either, she'd probably tell me if she could get away from Tsuruya.

"So what do we do?" I asked.

It was Koizumi who answered,

"I'm afraid I don't know, wait it out I guess"

I don't have much faith in that answer, but We've always come out on top when situations look grim.

The helicopter had finally landed and it was packed, this many people should never be able to fit in one! I was squished between Asakura and Koizumi as Haruhi handed the pilot the coordinates for wherever the hell it was we were going. It seems like she got all the info she needed in the mail. This is all way too convenient...

Asakura looked out the window in wonder at our frozen Hell as the pilot got ready to pick up. She looked as if she had never seen so much snow before.

I watched her for a few moments, she seemed so innocent, but I've been fooled by her before.

I'll be nice to her, but I won't be letting my guard down any time soon...

A few minutes had passed by and the blades began to rotate faster and faster, I guess they have to warm up before the chopper could get going.

I really wasn't feeling very secure. Flying again was bad enough, but being so packed that people had to sit on the floor just couldn't be safe!

I looked towards our mysterious pilot, who was wearing a helmet and turned away from us, so I never really got a good idea of what he looked like.

"Hey pilot!" I yelled over the sound of the engines.

He didn't say anything but handed me a headset, I guess that's how people communicate over this god-awful racket.

I was greeted by a low rough voice that took me by surprise,

"Just call me R.J. So what's up?"

"Well I was wondering, R.J., Is it really safe to have this many people in here?"

R.J. Pressed a few buttons and the chopper took off into the frozen wasteland.

"don't worry kid, I've handled heavier things in this bird, everything will be A-ok!"

Well he's awful cheery for somebody who works in this miserable place.

"If you say so" I took the headset off and handed it back to him.

You might be wondering how I could talk to him at all, on account that he speaks English. In Japan, they teach us English as a mandatory class, don't know why, that's just what they do. But damn is it convenient to know a second language sometimes.

It was then, that I noticed a frightened look on Koizumi and the other espers, Koizumi tried to tell me something but I couldn't hear him over the chopper blades.

This can't be good.

Koizumi pulled out his phone and began texting something. As he showed it to me I felt my heart sink.

It said:

_The pilot isn't real! He's a projection from Miss Suzumiya's powers!_


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six:**

_**Insomnia**_

_Something's wrong_

_shut the light_

_heavy thoughts tonight_

_and they aren't snow white_

_dreams of war_

_dreams of liars_

_dreams of dragon's fire_

_and of things that will bite_

_-Metallica, Enter Sandman_

He's... not real... but I just had a conversation with him! This situation just makes less and less sense as it goes on.

I looked around the insides of the chopper, is this thing fake too?

Kunikida was quietly reading a book between Nagato who was doing the same, and Taniguchi, who was just twiddling his thumbs idly. I had forgotten those two were with us. I hope they can handle whatever is in store for us, their just humans like me, but they don't have experience with the weird shit that is my life.

I turned to Asakura who was still looking out the window, she seemed to be watching something. I'll have to ask her later, since she had the only window on our side and my seat-belt kept me from turning too much.

I turned over to Koizumi, was wringing his hands nervously on my while Haruhi was dozing off in front of us. I envy your obliviousness, Haruhi.

Eventually the helicopter landed near a small base, and unloaded us all. There were a few shacks outside and a large tower, surrounded by what I assumed to be light poles. I thought that maybe R.J. Would show us around even though he apparently isn't real, but as soon as everyone was out with their bags he took off and left us.

We were now in a closed circle.

"_please let this be like the island, please let this be like the island, please let this be like the island..."_

As we entered the complex everything seemed eerily quiet, not a sound but our own footsteps and the howling wolf wind outside.

Haruhi was the first to break the silence.

"Hello? Anybody here? We won the contest to see your discovery! Anybody?"

I sincerely hope this isn't like that mansion up in the mountains last year either.

As Haruhi and the others split up to search the complex, I found myself wandering with Koizumi, Nagato and Asakura. I seemed to be spending a lot of time with those three.

I opened a door in the hallway to reveal a recreation room. It had enough things to keep a large group of people entertained. There was a pool table, a ping pong table, a TV, an old computer, a small bar, a couch, a poker table and even a pinball machine!

It was empty of people as well.

"I'm terribly sorry to intrude, but is anyone here?" Koizumi called as he walked around the room.

This situation was making the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

"Hey Nagato, this isn't like that mansion is it?" I asked, afraid for the answer.

"No, the flow of time is equal throughout the complex and there is no evidence to suggest the rooms are shifting"

well that's a relief at least...

"Where is everyone?" Asakura asked

Koizumi returned to the group with a puzzled expression.

"Perhaps they went out on an expedition? If they found something amazing out here, perhaps they found something else as well?"

Maybe...

After walking around the complex I had a good feel for where everything was, the entrance was in the south end, near the rec room, and the bathroom and kitchen were in the north end, they were both connected to a hallway that contained the bedrooms. The rec room took up most of the eastern side and there was a small dog kennel in the west, down a long hallway containing a few storage rooms. There was a large office near the kitchen, connected to a laboratory.

Since we were all tired from the long flight everyone got settled in the bedrooms, from what I had seen, they were all identical, square rooms, one window, and two bunks on each side, pretty much spartan. I put my bag next to the bottom bunk and got in. Koizumi decided to take the top bunk as Nagato took the bottom of the other side and Asakura above her.

After sleeping on and off that night having nightmares, I woke up in a cold sweat and decided to give up. I couldn't remember anything about the dreams, all I remember were three blood red, hate filled eyes staring into my soul, unconsciously telling me things. Things like being trapped in the ice for thousands of years, waiting for some idiot race of sentients to thaw it out.

I got up, I had had enough of those dreams. I sat up in my bunk and rubbed my eyes, almost screaming when I noticed Nagato standing in front of me.

I didn't by the way.

"Um... Nagato? What are you doing?"

the quiet bookworm replied softly,

"Collecting data on your sleep patterns"

"Why?"

"I am... curious about sleep"

It's not all it's hyped up to be, not lately anyway.

I looked around and noticed the others were missing. Where did they go? Maybe they went to get something to eat? I decided to head to the rec room and kill some time, maybe I'd get tired if I played some pinball or something.

Nagato followed closely behind me.

"Hey Nagato?"

"Yes?"

"Do you get lonesome?"

"Yes"

"I guess having Asakura around again must nice, huh?"

"..."

"Nagato?"

"...although I am not... pleased with Ryoko Asakura's past behavior, I find comfort in her presence"

It's strange that I feel like that too. Although I was still wary of Asakura, I guess I believe in second chances, Even for someone who stabbed me.

"Come on, let's kill time in the rec room"

"That is impossible, time cannot be killed because-"

I cracked a smile, oh you're literal wit, Nagato.

"I know that, it's just an expression"

we found Koizumi and Asakura playing poker in the rec room.

"Ah, welcome to insomniacs anonymous!" Koizumi said as he placed a few chips on the poker table, which Asakura quickly matched.

"Nightmares?" I asked

"Ah, so you're having them as well? I thought it was just Miss Asakura and myself"

Asakura dreams too? I figured she wouldn't need sleep, since Nagato never does.

"It's part of my 'probation', I need to sleep to renew energy just like you. Honestly, I don't know how you humans can stand these 'dreams'! Do those horrible red eyes haunt you _every_ night?" Asakura replied, shuddering in fear.

"No, that's the first time I've ever dreamed about them. So we're having the same dreams?" I asked.

Koizumi drew a card,

"It appears that way, unfortunately, I can't sense anything currently, so I'm afraid I don't know what they could possibly mean"

useless as always, I see.

"So playing poker?" I asked

"Yes, Miss Asakura is a very quick learner, I can't help but be impressed!"

"Aww, you're sweet, Koizumi-kun!" Asakura gushed.

"You seem to be feeling better, Koizumi" I said bluntly.

"Ah, I'm still worried, but it's best not to let those kinds of thoughts consume you, you know what I mean?"

You have no idea.

"So it's just us huh?"

"No, miss Tsuruya's over there" Asakura pointed out.

I looked across the room, to see the green haired chatterbox watching TV and eating a bag of chips on the couch.

On the screen was an elderly black man and who I assumed to be his son,

_Lamont, You the biggest dummy there ever was, in the whole world, on earth, today!_

Never seen it before

"Nyahahaha! I love American TV, nyoro!"

I walked over to her and asked,

"We get signal all the way down here?"

"Nope! But there's a tons of videotapes!"

She pointed to an open cabinet under the TV that was full of old tapes. In fact they were so old that they had collected a lot of dust, as if they hadn't been watched in years.

I took a look around the room, the pool table had collected a lot of dust too, as well as the pinball machine. But it was the computer that caught my eye the most, it looked like it came out in the 80's.

"Something wrongs, Kyon-kun?"

I didn't know, maybe nothing, but knowing Haruhi, and my past experience with computers, it's probably something.

I ignored Tsuruya and inspected the computer closely.

It was definitely old, and it wasn't so much a computer as a chess simulator.

I tried booting it on, but nothing happened, I looked around but it was plugged in.

Why wouldn't it turn on then?

I jumped when I heard Koizumi in my ear.

"Hmm... it's probably just really old, Kyon. Why not join our game of poker?"

He was looking at the monitor over my shoulder

What have I said about personal space?

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you"

"...Whatever, you're probably right, but why would they bother keeping this around if it didn't work? In fact, it seems like there hasn't been anyone here for a long time" I asked.

"I thought I was the only one who noticed that, and it worries me, but I'm sure there's a good explanation for everything"

I can only hope, but just what would that explanation be? I couldn't think of anything.

"It smells funny!"

You must have a good nose, because I don't smell anything except dust.

Tsuruya bent low over the keyboard and sniffed it.

Could you please not do that? I'm wierded out enough as it is.

"It smells really familiar... reminds me of my dad..."

Koizumi raised his brow as we watched Tsuruya open up the tower and smell the insides.

What the Hell are you doing?

"It's whiskeys!"

"How do you know what that smells like? Isn't whiskey a foreign drink?"

"Yep! My dad likes exotic drinks, and this is his favorites!"

I got up and took a smell of the tower, it did smell vaguely of alcohol.

But why?

"Maybe someone got frustrated and poured their drink in it?" Koizumi offered.

I could see that. It _is_ pretty old and probably no stranger to glitches,

or maybe someone got their ass handed to them in a chess program too many times? I couldn't tell you how often I've wanted to throw my tea in Koizumi's face during our chess games. I have to chase his king across the board half the time.

Thank God he picked up poker.

"yeah, I guess I'll play poker with you"

"Splendid! Will you be joining us Miss Tsuruya?"

Tsuruya stretched her arms out and gave a mighty yawn,

"Nah, I think I'll go to sleeps"

"Tsuruya?"

"What is it, Kyon-kun?"

"Have you been having any strange dreams lately?"

She looked at me strangely then answered,

"Nope! I haven't been to sleeps yet, why?"

"Just a thought, oyasuminasai, Tsuruya"

"Oyasuminasai, Kyon-kun!"

As she left, I walked back to the poker table and played with the others for a few hours.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven:**

_**Something Wicked This Way Comes**_

I was staring out the window, behind Koizumi. No storms, but it was pitch black, without a trace of civilization anywhere. I couldn't help but shake a little when realization dawned on me. There was no escape. Even if there was a reason to run away, I wouldn't get very far in the sub zero temperatures outside, I'd freeze to death before I even got a mile away.

"Something on you're mind Kyon? You've been staring out there for quite a while"

Maybe I was just reading too far into the situation. Sure, things seemed more than a bit suspicious, but there hadn't been any sign of danger yet.

"What's the ante up to?" I asked, taking my mind off the situation.

"One hundred fifty, are you still in?"

I looked over to my tray, I still had over five hundred points worth of chips.

"You bet" I said, tossing three fifty pieces into the pot.

"I will raise three hundred" Nagato said, studying her cards carefully.

She wasn't playing as well as I thought, it seemed pretty obvious she had a winning hand.

"Well, I'm not going to risk it! I'm out" Asakura said. If she didn't think she could win, then I probably wouldn't fare much better.

"Me too" I said, putting my cards into the discard pile.

"Well, I don't have much faith in this hand, looks like you win this one, Miss Nagato."

Nagato pulled her winnings in with a faint trace of a smile.

"So what did you have?" I asked, smiling a bit myself.

She shown us her hand: a king, a three, a two, an eight and a five. There's no way she could win with that!

"I was bluffing"

"What? that's not fair!" Asakura cried in frustration.

"Good show, Miss Nagato! You had me fooled" Koizumi added, smiling as ever.

I was about to congratulate her too until I heard the door open, letting in a nasty gust of freezing air.

Could it be the research team finally coming back?

There was the sound of little feet walking down the hall as the door slammed closed, followed by heavier footsteps.

The pitter patter of little feet came closer, making me nervous.

It stopped right beside me, so I looked down and nearly fell off my chair when I found a pair of brown eyes looking back at me.

Where did that dog come from!

Kunikida walked into the room, shivering.

"Hey guys, look what I found wandering around outside!"

When did he even go outside?

"Ah, Kunikida, I didn't know you left! I imagine it wasn't pleasant out?"

"You aren't kidding! If I stayed out any longer, I'd probably be a human Popsicle! Luckily I found this guy when I did. I heard him pawing at my window earlier, so I went outside to investigate. I think he's a Siberian Husky, by the way."

The Husky walked away and laid by the pool table, he didn't look like he was feeling too well.

"How did you get out without us noticing?" I asked.

Kunikida looked at me strangely.

"There's an exit in the kitchen, didn't you notice that earlier?"

I hadn't. I guess I was too busy wondering where the scientists were to notice.

"Well, I'm going to head to bed, you might try feeding him later though. I tried giving him some beef jerky but he didn't want any. I think he's sick"

Kunikida said his good nights and left.

I'd probably be sick too if I was outside for nearly as long as that dog must have been.

Wait? How could he have been outside? We were here all day and didn't notice him when we came in. he must have been out there for hours, maybe even days! But if that were true, he'd be frozen solid! That's another piece to this puzzle that doesn't seem to go anywhere...

I turned back to our poker game and noticed Asakura was missing.

Where did she go?

I looked over and saw Asakura squatting down in front of the mysterious dog.

"This is that thing I saw earlier when we were in the helicopter..."

It couldn't have been that dog!

"I've never seen anything like this before, what is it?"

Koizumi smiled and answered Asakura,

"You've never seen a dog before?"

"Nope! He's cute though!"

My stomach began to growl.

"Oh! Kyon you must be hungry! How about I make us some breakfast?"

Some food would be good right now, and from my experience, Asakura is a damn good cook. At least in that world Nagato created.

"I will help" Nagato stated, leaving the poker table for the kitchen.

"Are 'dogs' aloud in the kitchen?" Asakura asked, holding the large Husky in her arms as if it weighed nothing

"Asakura, put him down! He might be sick!"

"Oh you don't have to worry about that! I have programs that protect me from all forms of biological contamination!"

Well that's convenient.

"Even so, I wouldn't want you to get bitten!"

she dropped dog and blushed.

The husky didn't show any sign of discomfort and landed on it's feet evenly before laying back down.

"I...see"

Koizumi joined back in the conversation,

"Just out of curiosity, why would you want to bring him in the kitchen anyway?"

Asakura didn't take her eyes off the dog.

"I thought maybe he could help us cook"

Koizumi chuckled,

"I don't think dogs have that kind of intelligence, but if he could, maybe that would be the amazing find!"

If someone could teach a dog to cook, they'd certainly be accomplishing something.

"Aww, that's too bad! Well I'm off, you can join me if you like!"

and with that, Asakura left to make breakfast.

I was alone with Koizumi and the strange dog.

"Koizumi?"

"Hmm?"

"Is it just me, or is there something off about that dog?"

He turned back in his seat to observe the Siberian Husky.

"Strange, I have that exact same intuition. Perhaps we should put him in the kennel for the night?"

That would make me feel a lot better.

At the word kennel, the dogs ears perked. It's obviously a trained dog.

As I got up, the dog did as well, walking towards the kennel.

He seems fairly smart for a dog too.

Koizumi joined me as I walked out of the room.

"I figured you wouldn't want to be alone with him" Koizumi said.

Koizumi can definitely weird me out, but I find it's best to stick with the devil you know than the devil you don't.

After we locked the dog in the kennel, we joined with our resident aliens to cook breakfast.

But by the time we got there, they were already done.

The smell of bacon and eggs wafted throughout the room.

"You guys are done already?" I asked, raising a brow.

"Yep!" Asakura cheerfully cried from behind the stove.

"It was already stale, but Miss Nagato altered the data to everything and I cooked it!"

"You cooked it awful fast, though, are you sure it's done?"

"Yep! Miss Nagato changed it's data around so it could be cooked in under a minute too!"

Nagato never ceases to amaze me.

"Oh, guys, there's a weird thing in here! What is it?"

Asakura pointed to the corner of the room, by the door I hadn't noticed before.

Looking past the pots and pans, I saw something large and bulky looking, hanging by a strap on the wall.

Why the hell would there be a-

"Flame thrower" Nagato said.

Koizumi must have noticed the 'WTF?' look on my face and decided to give an explanation.

"That actually makes a lot of sense, as you know it gets terribly cold, and outposts like these are likely prone to getting snowed in during blizzards. I would imagine that a flamethrower would be an invaluable tool to simply open a door and melt your way outside"

I take back what I said about Koizumi's one redeeming quality, it's two now, he has an ability to make sense of things when he doesn't feel the urge to make lengthy conversation.

Koizumi and I sat at the long table in the large office as Nagato and Asakura set the table. They had made enough for everyone here, it was a lot of food!

"The others should be up soon, so dig in!"

I began eating immediately... and it was amazing! A bit greasy, but still delicious.

"So what did you do with charnauk?"Asakura asked.

Who?

"The dog, it was on his collar so I assumed that was his name"

"Oh! I hadn't even noticed that! Good eye, Miss Asakura!" Koizumi congratulated.

"Arigatou Koizumi-kun!"

I hadn't noticed any dog collar either.

The lovely Miss Asahina popped into the room.

"Um... when did we get that dog? I don't remember him at all!"

"Kunikida found him last night! Isn't he cute?" Asakura gushed.

"He looks sick... -oh! That smells wonderful! Did you just make all this?"

Asakura invited miss Asahina to eat with us and eventually everyone else woke up to the scent of bacon and eggs and joined us, I even had seconds! It was by far the most enjoyable part of this trip. But I noticed Haruhi and Tsuruya exchanging dirty looks from across the table when they thought the other wasn't looking. I guess they still hadn't made up after that incident on the plane.

After breakfast, everyone went to the rec room to pass the time. I played another game of poker with Koizumi and Asakura while Kunikida and Taniguchi played pool. Nagato was tinkering with the chess machine and everyone else was watching some ancient tape on the TV.

_'Edith yous dingbat! I'm your husband and you'll do what I says!'_

_'I'm sorry Archie, I'm not supposed to talk about the trial!'_

Americans have an odd sense of humor.

"It's unfortunate that Miss Nagato didn't want to play with us, we have plenty of chips"

There was something off...

"Well that's fine with me! She cheats anyway!"

But what?

"Now, I hardly think that having certain abilities would count as cheating, Miss Asakura"

That's it! Haruhi is missing! And so is Miss Asahina...

"Well I have most of the same abilities..."

"I've noticed"

Maybe they went to use the bathroom or something? Girls do that together right? I mean not in the same bowl or anything... you know what, never mind, this train of thought has gone far of the rails.

"Are you _flirting_ with me, Koizumi-kun?"

"Oh... n-no! Nothing like that, Miss Asakura!"

I interrupted the conversation, they're starting to get along so well, it makes me sick.

"Have you seen Haruhi and Miss Asahina?"

Koizumi furrowed his brow in thought,

"Maybe they went to the bathroom together? Girls do that, right?" he asked, looking to Asakura.

I face palmed.

"I wouldn't know, I'm just an interface, but that's a good question! I should gather data on that!"

I double face palmed.

Taniguchi put his stick on the pool table and stretched.

"Hey man, I gotta take a leak, I'll be back"

Just as he was leaving, Kunikida called out,

"Hey, while you're out could you try to feed the dog?"

Taniguchi stopped and blinked a few times,

"...What dog?" he asked, then shrugging his shoulders,

"Eh, sure whatever"

A few hands later, Asakura had just raked in a huge pile of winnings, and nearly cleaned Koizumi and myself out.

Damn she's good at this!

I was about to draw another card when something happened that I don't think I'll ever forget for the rest of my days.

It started with a rumble, that almost shook the whole complex, it kind of sounded like a roar, was it an earthquake?

Miss Asahina then came running in and tripped, crying hysterically and screaming at the top of her lungs.

She grabbed me by the collar with a look of sheer terror I had never seen on her before, certainly not like that!

K-k-kyon! M-miss Suzumiya w-w-w-want's the flamethrower!"

Koizumi dropped his cards and and got up quickly, trying calm her down

"Miss Asahina, please calm down, what's going on?"

"I DON"T KNOW! JUST GET THE FLAMETHROWER! GET IT! GET IT! GET IT!"

She screamed so loud I thought she'd go hoarse, and she shook Koizumi so hard he nearly fell over.

I decided to take action,

"Alright I'm going, Koizumi, you watch her! Miss Asahina, where am I supposed to go?"

"T-the k-k-kennel!"

I grabbed the flamethrower in the kitchen, strapped it on, and dashed to the kennel as fast as I could.

On the way there, I heard a series of loud bangs, it almost sounded like a gun.

"It's about time you showed up you idiot! It's got Taniguchi! KILL IT! KILL IT! KILL IT!"

She was screaming at the top of her lungs, and firing a shotgun into the kennel.

Kill what? What has Taniguchi? And where the hell did you get a shotgun!

I looked inside and nearly lost my lunch.

What I saw will forever be burned into my retinas.

It was the dog, or rather, what used to be the dog. It looked like some sick fusion of plant and flesh, arms and tentacles were twisting about and what might have been the dog's head, was looking right at me with it's horrible beady eyes, it's neck stretched out like a rokurokubi from some old folk tale.

Half inside the twisted mass was Taniguchi's slimy, pulsating body...

DID I JUST WALK INTO SOME KIND OF FUCKED UP HENTAI?

He was definitely dead, at least I hoped so, I didn't want this on my conscience.

"What are you waiting for? kill it you idiot!"

I had never seen Haruhi so scared, I don't think I've ever seen her _scared _at all! Then suddenly and with no regard for my safety, Haruhi opened the door and shoved me in!

HAVE YOU LOST YOU'RE DAMN MIND, WOMAN?

"Just kill it, Kyon!"

How would you like it if I threw you in here? what the hell is wrong with that girl?

Shakily I tried to get the flamethrower started, but it wouldn't work, I tried again and again but it would only give a weak little cough and sputter, obviously it hadn't been used in a long time. Terror's icy hold clutched my veins and everything seemed to slow down, I was shaking and my fingers were clumsily squeezing the trigger while my other hand numbly struck the side of the pipe in desperation. It's tentacles were slowly lurching for me, but they were blasted away by Haruhi's exceptional aim, and I thought I might have heard Nagato quietly talking like she does when she manipulates data, but I couldn't judge over the deafening sounds of shotgun blasts and roars.

Haruhi stopped firing to reload, and the grotesque thing regarded me for a moment, probably debating it's chances of getting to me.

Everything felt slow, my heart thumped a mile a minute as I felt the walls closing in.

without warning, that monster let loose an earsplitting roar and lunged at me, just as I managed to release a steady stream of fire.

It screamed and retreated, thrashing wildly in the air as I slowly advanced and roasted it. By the time I backed it all the way into the corner, it was toasted.

Haruhi and Koizumi put it out with fire extinguishers. With my ears ringing, I dizzily stumbled out of the cage, almost tripping as I lurched down the hallway, gagging on the smell of burnt flesh.

I hurled my breakfast in a random barrel full of assorted clothes, but I didn't care.

Someone's not wearing those long-johns again.

Miss Asahina was crying into Tsuruya's chest, and Haruhi was shaking slightly when I got back.

It was quiet, Kunikida could only stare at the roasted carcass that used to be part of his friend. Even Asakura looked frightened. Nagato was expressionless and the espers shared a deadly serious face.

I just didn't know what to feel, it's not every day you kill some horrible caricature of flesh out of Lovecraft's reject pile.

Nagato was the first to speak, she was staring straight at that thing,

"It was absorbing him, we should find out why"

find out why! Maybe because it was _hungry?_

"And h-how do you propose we do that?" Haruhi asked, stuttering a bit.

"Dissect it"

Just looking at that thing makes me sick, and you want to open it up and pull it's _guts_ out?

"Like hell we're going to do that! I say we drag it outside, pour gasoline on it and torch it until there's nothing left!"

For the first time in my life I found myself agreeing with her completely.

"For once I don't agree with you, Miss Suzumiya! we need to know what we're dealing with in case there's more of those things"

...You know what? fuck you Koizumi.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight:**

_**The blech! Of Haruhi Suzumiya**_

Koizumi and Mr. Arakawa wrapped that thing up in Taniguchi's bedsheets and dragged it to the lab. Thank god they did it, because there's no way in hell that I was going to touch that thing.

This was the first time I'd been in the laboratory, It was pretty small compared to the rec room, and there was barely enough room for everyone to fit inside. Their was a small amount of equipment in the room, a few microscopes, a Geiger counter, and actual computer, although it still looked pretty old. Koizumi and Mr. Arakawa lifted the bedsheets up and dropped it on one of the two operating tables in the center of the room, being careful not to make skin to skin contact with the body.

After informing us that they had taken a few anatomy classes, Asakura and Nagato decided to do the dissection, I was ordered by Haruhi to stay in there, since I was the only one with the flamethrower.

Like hell I'm going to part with this thing! If I had to watch that monster get opened up then so be it.

The thing on the table...

God it was so disgusting, smoke was still trailing off it's carcass and the smell of burnt flesh was stronger than ever in that tiny room.

I just wanted to puke again, and it seemed everyone else shared that sentiment.

As Nagato grabbed the scalpel and moved to open it, Koizumi stopped her,

"Wait, Miss Nagato!"

"Yes?"

"you should put some gloves on first!"

I'm so glad Koizumi pointed that out, I don't know what I'd do if I had to watch Nagato do this bare-handed...

I kept my eyes glued to Nagato's hands as she made an incision and began to open it up.

Ugh... I think this whole story should have been called "the blech! Of Haruhi Suzumiya"...

Nagato and Asakura both thrust their hands into the opening and pulled some horrible and misshapen object out.

"Heart" she said as she unceremoniously dropped the organ into a nearby tray.

Miss Asakura pulled out something long and stringy, intestines I'm guessing... you know what, this is making me seriously sick remembering all this, so I'll skip ahead to the important part.

Nagato pulled out a second heart, it looked like it was half formed.

"Heart"

"what the hell, Nagato! Why two hearts?"

Asakura answered my question,

"Well..."

pulling out the other heart she began to explain,

"well this is probably Taniguchi's, and this one... I'm guessing it was the dog's"

"I can gather that! But why does it look like that?" Haruhi asked, hefting the shotgun nervously.

Seriously where did she get that? As if the nightmares weren't bad enough, Haruhi had a loaded gun!

Nagato didn't say anything, she must have been thinking pretty hard about it.

If Nagato couldn't figure it out, I doubt anyone could.

"Oh my..." Asakura looked as if she had a light bulb above her head that she wished wasn't there.

"That's not Taniguchi's, it's imitation, this thing never was a dog at all..."

Imitation? how could anything do that?

"I don't know, but..." she trailed off and started digging.

She then pulled out what appeared to be a tiny head.

"Kami-sama..." Kunikida said in horror.

It was Taniguchi's head, or I'm guessing, an imitation of it.

Asakura was studying some blood under a microscope when Nagato pulled something Metallic out.

Everyone inched closer to get a better look. It was some sort of plate.

"It was not attached to anything" Nagato stated

"That's from his head... when we were dating he told me how he cracked his skull when he was younger, and they put that in him" Haruhi said.

He told her that in the fifteen minutes they were together?

"Then, I'm guessing that it can't replicate inorganic materials?" Koizumi asked.

"Correct" Nagato stated, still studying the plate like it was an LCD screen from a prehistoric bedrock.

The others began to talk amongst themselves while Nagato continued opening that thing up.

"...Kyon-kun?" It was Miss Asahina, she still had tears rolling down her face.

"Hmm? Oh, Miss Asahina. Are you alright?"

She nodded quietly,

"Yes... Do you think Koizumi-kun is right when he said there might be more of those things?"

Asakura had a grave look on her face when she interrupted the rest of the autopsy,

"Burn it right now." she said with nervously

"But why? We're learning so much!" Koizumi protested

"It's still alive!"

How the hell could it still be alive? It looked pretty dead to me.

"There's still cellular activity, if we don't get rid of it, it might revive itself and kill us all!"

"Now, Miss Asakura, be reasonable! Cellular activity still continues in many organisms after death, it doesn't mean anything" Koizumi made a pretty decent point, but I don't intend to find out if it's valid or not.

"That's what I thought too, but I've been watching this under the microscope for the better part of a half hour, and it's still going, have a look"

Koizumi darted over to the other side of the lab to look into the microscope.

Whatever he saw must have been freaky, because he gasped and cried

"Good lord!"

Nagato and Asakura washed their hands thoroughly after taking off their gloves and chucking it on top of the corpse. They also threw the microscope on top before the espers wrapped it up, which I think was a little over-necessary, but I guess it can't hurt to be cautious.

After they dragged it outside, far away from the outpost, the rest of us gathered outside and poured gasoline on that thing. I set it on fire, by the way, for a second time.

Of course I'd have to do it.

As we watched it glow in the morning twilight, Haruhi stood next to me with a guilty expression,

"I never meant for all this to happen, Kyon. I just wanted to see something amazing for once..."

Well you got it, anyway.

"Don't get me wrong, Taniguchi was among the biggest idiots I ever knew, but I'd never want him to die, especially not like that... you know that right, Kyon?"

I didn't answer her right away, and just stared into the fire. This whole experience really took a mental toll on me.

"...Kyon?"

I turned to look at her, she was downright miserable and scared. I didn't really think about what I did next, I just kind of did it.

I wrapped an arm around her shoulders and said,

"I know that, Haruhi, and I know we fight a lot, but I don't think you're a bad person at all"

"...Thanks, Kyon, you too..."

we stood like that for a few minutes, I'm surprised she didn't try to push me away or punch me. She had never let me do that before, of course I never tried either.

I was starting to feel pretty guilty too, I was the one who invited Taniguchi, so it was partially my fault he died.

"I would advise against physical contact"

We both jumped and broke contact as soon as Nagato spoke.

"I did not mean to alarm you, but you risk contamination."

Koizumi popped up as well.

How the hell does he manage to do that? He really freaks me out sometimes.

"I'm afraid she's right, I'd like to think not, but any one of us could be an imitation"

_**(A/N: that's all I've got for this story so far, I may update some day, but I make no promises**_


	9. Chapter 9

_**Chapter Nine:**_

_**No Escape**_

"**A sickened mind and spirit, **

_**the mirror tells me lies,**_

**could I mistake myself for someone,**

**who lives behind my eyes?**

**Will he escape my soul,**

**or will he live in me?**

**Is he trying to get out,**

**or trying to enter me?"**

**-Ozzy Osbourne, Diary of a madman**

"_any one of us could be an imitation"_

This is when the paranoia really started to kick in.

I'll never forget that look Haruhi gave us, eyes as wide as dinner plates. She stepped back a few feet, eying us all suspiciously. What expressive eyes she had! They looked right at me as if to say, 'I don't know you, stay away!'

"Is... is that really possible?" she asked Nagato.

"Yes"

Koizumi looked to the sky worriedly, his annoying smile now long gone.

"I think we should head inside, I believe a storm is coming"

I followed his gaze and saw a faint dark line off in the distance, I don't know if that necessarily meant a storm was coming to us, but I had a feeling that a storm of another kind was on it's way...

once we got back inside and put our snow gear up, there was a dead silence. Everyone eyed one another cautiously, I admit that paranoia's destructive grip was beginning to hold me as well.

I put the flamethrower down in the hallway, I didn't really want to part with it, but I didn't want to cause anyone to become more nervous than they already were. There was just too much tension, and inciting an epidemic of hysteria was not on my to do list.

I couldn't think of anything better to do, so I sat alone at the poker table, just thinking. I don't know where everyone else went, probably to their rooms to sleep with one eye open, everyone seemed pretty drained from that experience. Or maybe they just wanted to be alone, like me.

Sleep was the last thing on my mind. I don't know how long I sat there with my head in my hands, but I was interrupted eventually by Haruhi plopping down across from me.

"Kyon... how long were you alone with that dog?"

I had to think about that, I was never _alone_ with it, but it was with Koizumi and myself for maybe a few minutes...

"four, five minutes tops, but Koizumi was with me the whole time" I told her honestly.

She crossed her arms, frowning at me,

"And you didn't notice _anything _strange about it at all?"

Koizumi was right about the coming storm, the howling wolf winds outside could be heard very clearly at this point.

I could have told her about my intuition, but I didn't want her to think I was some kind of supernatural being, or worse yet, an imitation.

"Nope" I said flatly

"That's exactly what I thought you'd say... you need to be more observant, Kyon!"

She's one to talk, telling me I need to be more observant, when all the supernatural stuff happens right under her nose, that _I_ have to take care of!

And what about her? She was gone before that thing ate Taniguchi!

I could feel that familiar terror flitting across my nervous system,

"Haruhi, where were _you_, today?"

"W-what? You couldn't possibly think... I'm not one of them! I'd know if I was!"

she was getting pretty defensive, but I think the real Haruhi would too...

"All I know is, before that thing got Taniguchi, you and Miss Asahina were nowhere to be seen."

she clenched her fist.

"I was in the shower!"

she pointed out her half frozen hair.

Maybe I do need to be more observant... but can you really blame me for not noticing? I was fighting for my life with a monster from Lovecraft's reject pile after all!

"See my hair! It was frozen when we went outside to burn that thing, don't you think that proves I'm me and not one of them?"

maybe... but then again that thing could have got to her while she was in the shower.

I really hope not though, it'd be an awful way to go.

"That only proves where you were, not who you are"

She looked hurt by my statement, and took interest in a deck of cards without meeting my gaze.

"Kyon... I can't believe you'd say that... am I really that untrustworthy?"

She had definitely picked up the ability to guilt trip me over the past year, damn spoiled brat.

But was she untrustworthy? I had to think back to when I first met her, Haruhi and 'trustworthy' never found their way into the same sentence. Had she ever intentionally gotten anyone hurt though? No, even though she never put anyone's feelings above her own back in those days, she never once gave me the impression that she would want anybody dead. Drag me by my tie and nearly strangle me? Sure. Jump kick someone in the face for no discernible reason what so ever? Why not? But never once had she gotten anyone seriously injured on purpose.

"Listen, Haruhi, I don't _want_ to think that, but can you blame me for not trusting you? And it's not just you, it's everyone! Even Koizumi, and he's rarely left my sight!"

Haruhi began shuffling the deck, with a determined gleam in her eye.

"I guess that's understandable, but I'm you're infallible brigade leader! Nothing's going to get me!"

That was a Haruhi answer if there ever was one, but maybe that's what she want's me to think? Haruhi is acting pretty much like I'd expect her to act, with a few surprising differences, but I think that's just how she's changed over time. But then again... that thing did a dead on impersonation of a dog, would a human being really be that difficult to imitate?

"I have an idea, look here."

She held a card in front of her, facing away from me so I couldn't tell what it was.

"What card am I holding?"

how the hell would I know?

"There's no way I could know that, Haruhi. What are you trying to do?"

"Just take a guess!" She commanded

I sighed deeply,

"I don't know, three of hearts?"

she frowned and put the card back in the deck.

"well I thought maybe they'd be telepathic, but you're acting like I'd expect you to..."

I frowned too, what gave her the idea that they were telepathic?

"Why would they be telepathic?"

Sighing, she said,

"I don't know, I thought it would be convenient for them..."

"Even if they are, I highly doubt they'd blow their cover like that, Miss Suzumiya"

I turned around, how long has Koizumi been there?

"for a minute or two, I couldn't sleep so I thought I'd come down here. You don't mind, do you?"

"I guess not..." Haruhi replied, her voice wisely cautious.

"Nightmares?" I asked.

"Yep"

"Huh"

"wait, you guys are having nightmares too?" Haruhi asked

so we weren't the only ones?

"No not at all! I've been having them too! But nobody said anything, so I thought it was just me..."

"Miss Asahina didn't wake you up or anything? I imagine she'd be awful frightened over these kind of dreams" Koizumi pointed out.

That's a good point, Miss Asahina would definitely wake up screaming if she's been having the same kind of nightmares we've been having.

But why were we having these dreams anyway? Maybe that thing really was telepathic... but that would mean... It's still here! But then again, we had nightmares before that dog showed up, so maybe it's this place?

"I wouldn't know, she bunked with _Tsuruya!_ I bunk alone" she said, pronouncing Tsuruya's name with a venomous sneer.

Why has she been so anti-social lately? Since she got on that plane, she's mostly kept to herself.

"I take it that you two haven't made up over that incident on the plane?" I asked

"Nope! She can be a bitch, I don't need her!"

I don't think Tsuruya was being a bitch at all. Weird, yes, but not a bitch!

That whole incident was pretty much my fault, though. I hope it doesn't end up biting me in the ass.

Koizumi avoided the conversation completely and proposed a game of poker, he didn't seem to want to spur Haruhi's sudden distaste for Tsuruya. I couldn't really blame him though, I don't think I've ever seen Haruhi act this way towards anyone, and to be honest, it scared me. A game of poker just might be a good idea, maybe it would take our minds off what happened that day.

Although I was starting to get sick of poker at that point, I was also curious to see if I could beat Haruhi. She seemed to be good at anything she tried, but I couldn't recall playing any kind of game against her.

… I couldn't beat her, she cleaned me out completely every time! Poker is pretty much a game of luck, and this girl had it in abundance. I expected her to kick our asses at this anyway, but I hadn't won a single hand! I really wasn't used to having a formidable opponent, Koizumi has his brilliant moments here and there, sometimes employing a totally unexpected tactic in our routine chess games, but never once did I think there was no way I could win against him. Haruhi on the other hand, was unpredictable, lucky, and determined.

This was the point where I started to think Haruhi couldn't be one of them, if she was, then they'd probably use her powers to change the world immediately, that would make sense, right? But maybe they'd have no idea how to use them. Either way, the thought of those things hijacking Haruhi's powers still makes me shudder. Can you imagine a world where you couldn't even go outside for fear that you're front lawn would devour you as soon as you walked out the door, and you couldn't stay inside either because you think you're loved ones might kill you in your sleep? If that's not a catch twenty-two situation, I don't know what is.

Haruhi drew another card and broke the silence,

"Koizumi-kun, do you really think there's imitations walking around?"

Isn't that the question of the day? I really wished Nagato had never pointed out that possibility. Out of this whole experience, the paranoia really was the worst part. Had you ever had to think to yourself, 'is that guy next me, who I have known for over a year now, an inhuman monster?'

No? Well, Imagine asking yourself that every few minutes.

Koizumi did that annoying thing when he moves his finger back and forward from his face while he's thinking,

"Honestly, I think we're just jumping at shadows, but I wouldn't let my guard down, just to be safe"

he had a response specifically tailored to appease Haruhi like always.

I bet he's just trying to lure us into a false sense of security...

No! I can't start thinking like that or I'll end up rocking back and forth in a corner, talking to myself!

"I hope you're right, Koizumi-kun..."

I threw a hundred into the pot and said,

"I bet the local military would..." I trailed off, Haruhi and Koizumi's eyes lit up as they got the same idea.

"There's a radio somewhere right!" Koizumi asked as the three of us instantly dropped our cards and got up.

"Yeah! I think I saw a radio room earlier! Follow me!" Haruhi called, getting up and sprinting out of the room.

I don't think I've ever ran so hard, I was panting and leaning on the wall when got to the hallway outside that particular storage room. I could smell my own puke in that nearby barrel from earlier and

I'm not cleaning it up either, the less time I spend in this place the better. We stopped outside the door to the radio room, just a few feet down the hall was the kennel, what was left of it anyway.

There was a ton of noise coming from behind the door, the sound of things being smashed and tossed aside, who was in there, and what the hell were they doing?

Haruhi kicked down the door and ran inside, we followed her in to be met with the last person I'd ever expect to destroy our only hope.

"Yuki-chan! What the hell are you doing?"

Perhaps it was just the situation, or maybe it was the fact that Nagato was chopping up all the equipment with an ax, either way, The sight chilled my blood more so than the thing that ate Taniguchi.

All around the room was the sight of wrecked equipment, cut wires and an omen of what was to come.

"It was a necessity, I could not let it escape" Nagato said plainly, holding a red fire ax in her hand listlessly.

Koizumi's mouth hung wide open as he tried to stutter out a sentence, only managing to make shocked noises as he held his hand before him, clenching and un-clenching his fist.

"B-but, the, the, we, you, but-"

"-What the hell!" Haruhi screamed, pouncing on Nagato in an attempt to strangle her.

"Miss Suzumiya!" Koizumi cried as the two of us pulled her off the smaller girl.

"I am sorry, but it had to be done" Nagato replied from the floor.

"You idiot! Why?" Haruhi screamed, attracting the rest of the group from their bunks with her hysterics.

"If one of you were to contact local military, it would have a way to escape to the mainland, causing infection to spread immediately"

"But it's gone Yuki-chan! We killed it!" Haruhi cried, trying to break free from our grip to strangle the girl once more.

"I cannot allow the possibility"

"Oh my goodness! What happened here?" Miss Asakura asked, just walking in the room with the others.

"Lock her up! Lock her up right now!" Haruhi demanded, breaking out of our grip in a fit of rage.

"You can't be serious!" I replied, getting up off the floor and standing in between the two of them.

"I am your leader! And I will have you locked up as well if you don't do as I say!"

"That's where I draw the line!" I yelled, clenching my fist, I seriously would have hit her if Koizumi hadn't spoke up,

"Perhaps we should,"

WHAT? I'll kill you Koizumi!

"Just bear with me for a moment, we don't want to get violent with one another, for all we know, it could excite this thing and tempt it to attack, I apologize deeply, miss Nagato, but surely you will agree it's for the best"

"Now wait just a minute-" I cried out, only to be cut off,

"-I will go", Nagato said quietly.

"Your kidding, right?" I asked, turning to face her.

She stood there, looking deeply into my eyes, "It is in the best interest of all that I stay away from the group, inciting hysteria is not a good option"

Why is it that Nagato can word things so perfectly in a way for me to go against my morals?

I sighed deeply and replied, "All right then, if that's how it has to be... where can we take you?"

Haruhi quietly watched us, she said nothing, but her eyes screamed at us, calling us traitors and monsters. I think that hurt me more than anything she had ever done, I can handle the crazy plans or being coerced into doing things I really don't want to, but to know Haruhi of all people fears me... that was agonizing on a deep level that I barely even understand.

"There is a shed outside of the complex, it should be sufficient"

Koizumi, Nagato, Asakura and myself suited up in the hallway, Haruhi watching us carefully with a loaded shotgun. Dear Kami-sama... it's my worst nightmare come true!

"Take the flame thrower, Kyon, in case she's one of them" Haruhi ordered, her voice grave and foreboding.

"Alright" I said, sighing as I put the heavy thing on.

"B-but Miss Suzumiya! What if he's... one of them?" Kunikida asked, watching all of us suspiciously, his eyes moved from side to side nervously.

You rat bastard! I'd bet _you're_ one of them!

"Mister Kunikida, don't say such horrible things!" Asakura said, trying to defend me.

"Shut your filthy mouth! Kyon can't be one of them! He just can't!" Haruhi cried out angrily, pointing the gun at him.

Everyone took a step back instantly, staying quiet.

"Now, now let's not be paranoid here, that would destroy us all faster than any monster could!" Koizumi said, showing his very rare trait of being the voice of reason.

"Just go, if your not back in ten minutes, I'm locking you out, you got that?" Haruhi said to us with a frightening kind of quiet authority.

With that, the four of us headed out into the cold, I kept the flame thrower pointed at Nagato to appease Haruhi, I wish I didn't have to do that.

Everyone watched us in silence as we headed towards the door.

The espers watched on expressionlessly as always, as Miss Asahina trembled with worry and Miss Tsuruya's eyes shone with a professional mix of patience and nervousness.

Haruhi and Kunikida shared a look of impatient fear masked with a stony expression as we opened the door and headed out. I'll never forget the various expressions Haruhi made during this trip for the rest of my life.

Outside was hellishly cold and dark, with only a few blue glowing torches off in the distance, guiding us towards the shed Nagato mentioned earlier. Wolf winds howled furiously and the wind clawed viciously at our faces, it really did feel like tiny razors were slashing at my face!

"I do believe we are out of Miss Suzumiya's sight now, you can put the flamethrower down, Kyon!" Koizumi shouted over the storm.

That's just what you'd want, isn't it Koizumi? For me to let my guard down out here in this wasteland. I considered turning my weapon on him, but I realized that if he tried anything, Nagato and Asakura would step in. This is getting bad, can I really trust Asakura of all people more than Koizumi?

I lowered my weapon but kept an eye on him as we continued to trudge through the knee high snow.

"Here." Nagato said, raising her voice just enough to be heard.

The three of us stood before a rundown looking shack that looked like it hadn't been used in years.

Koizumi opened the door and the three of us went in quickly to escape the cold.

"Are you sure your alright with this, Nagato?" I asked concernedly.

"Sub zero temperatures are of no worry for me. I am merely attempting to appease Suzumiya Haruhi by giving her an illusion of safety."

"I wish it hadn't come to this, whatever gave you the impression that it's still here?" Koizumi asked, closing the door behind us.

"I cannot be certain, but I have specific orders from the entity to quarantine this area, as does Asakura"

"It's true, I'm really sorry to both of you, but we can't let this thing spread" Ryoko added.

Koizumi scratched his chin thoughtfully,

"Miss Nagato, if this thing were to escape, how long would it take to spread and how far?"

"It would spread to the entire planet in three to four days"

"No way! That fast?" I blurted out in fear.

"Yes in fact... way"

Well... okay then.

I looked around the shed until I found an old gas engine manual and handed it to her,

"I know this isn't much, but it should keep you occupied for a while"

She took the small book and held it lightly to her chest, still looking at me with those deep brown eyes.

How can she look so emotionless and melancholy at the same time?

"...Thank you"

Ryoko decided to speak up as she looked out at the storm,

"You know, we should head back soon, I'd hate to have Miss Suzumiya anymore upset than she already is"

I second that, she's already got a loaded gun, what if she gets antsy and blows someone's head off? Dear Kami-sama, I hate this place!

"Miss Nagato, if I may ask, can you and Miss Asakura become infected like the others?" Koizumi asked.

"No, we are immune to all forms of biological contamination, even in our underpowered state, and there are other agents stationed nearby in case of an emergency"

"Well where the hell are they? Why didn't they jump in when Taniguchi was killed?" I asked angrily, whoa calm down, remember your karma, Kyon...

"I think they're having trouble finding us, the magnetic poles must be causing all kinds of interference with their programs... We'll be lucky if even one finds their way here"

Dear Kami-sama... we're fucked aren't we?

"I think we'd best be going now, wouldn't you say Kyon?" Koizumi asked, inching towards the door nervously.

"Yeah, let's go, come on Ryoko" I said as I opened the door. We said our good byes to Nagato, locked the shed up and trudged through the snow, back to the complex.

As we were walking, a thought occurred to me, and I shouted to Koizumi over the howling winds,

"Koizumi, is it just me, or is it a really bad idea to leave Haruhi alone... with the others... and a loaded gun..."

There was a loud series of bangs coming from the main building right after I said that. Dammit, me and my big mouth!

We booked it as fast as we could, but even today's events could not have prepare us for what fresh, frozen hell we were about to experience now.

(A/N: I'm still working on the next chapter, but suffice it to say, things are picking up, so tell me what you thought of this strange crossover if you'd be so kind)


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